Mapping of ApoE4 Related White Matter Damage using Diffusion MRI

Sinchai Tsao; Niharika Gajawelli; Darryl Hwa Hwang; Stephen Kriger; Meng Law; Helena Chui; Michael Weiner; Natasha Lepore

doi:10.1117/12.2043925

Mapping of ApoE4 Related White Matter Damage using Diffusion MRI

Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2014 Apr 9:9039:90390H. doi: 10.1117/12.2043925.

Authors

Sinchai Tsao¹, Niharika Gajawelli², Darryl Hwa Hwang³, Stephen Kriger⁴, Meng Law³, Helena Chui³, Michael Weiner⁴, Natasha Lepore²

Affiliations

¹ University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA ; Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁴ Center for Neurodegenerative Disease, San Francisco VA Medical Center San Francisco, California, USA.

Abstract

ApoliopoproteinE ε4 (ApoE-ε4) polymorphism is the most well known genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimers Disease. The exact mechanism through which ApoE ε4 increases AD risk is not fully known, but may be related to decreased clearance and increased oligomerization of Aβ. By making measurements of white matter integrity via diffusion MR and correlating the metrics in a voxel-based statistical analysis with ApoE-ε4 genotype (whilst controlling for vascular risk factor, gender, cognitive status and age) we are able to identify changes in white matter associated with carrying an ApoE ε4 allele. We found potentially significant regions (P_uncorrected < 0.05) near the hippocampus and the posterior cingulum that were independent of voxels that correlated with age or clinical dementia rating (CDR) status suggesting that ApoE may affect cognitive decline via a pathway in dependent of normal aging and acute insults that can be measured by CDR and Framingham Coronary Risk Score (FCRS).

Keywords: Alzheimer’s Disease; ApoE; DTI; Dementia; Diffusion MRI; MRI; Neuroimaging.

Abstract

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